PETE OLSON: The Rule of Law applies to Washington elites too

Published 3:43 pm, Thursday, July 7, 2016

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Pete Olson

Pete Olson

PETE OLSON: The Rule of Law applies to Washington elites too

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Days after U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had an “impromptu” meeting at an airport with former President Bill Clinton; FBI Director James Comey announced that he would not recommend criminal charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her careless handling of highly classified information.

Secretary Clinton emphatically and repeatedly denied ever sending highly classified information from her personal server. Comey confirmed that Secretary Clinton’s unsecure server had “110 emails in 52 email chains” that was determined to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received.” He declared that Clinton and the State Department were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”

Despite the unsettling actions by Comey, this is what we know: The FBI confirmed that in spite of her claims to the contrary, Hillary Clinton improperly stored and transmitted highly classified information in a reckless manner. The State Department’s own Inspector General previously confirmed that Clinton and her staff were repeatedly warned that her personal email server was vulnerable to hackers. In its investigation, the FBI was unable to confirm whether any of the sensitive US classified information was hacked by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea or another outside organization. Hillary Clinton’s reward for this reckless behavior is being absolved of any criminal charges. That is disgusting.

Comey laid out clear facts that determined that Clinton and her staff appeared to violate laws governing highly classified materials, but then found no evidence they did so knowingly or intentionally. The argument that Clinton’s reckless behavior was not "intentional" and thus should not be prosecuted is wrong. People are found guilty every day in courtrooms across America for causing harm, whether intentional or not. General David Petraeus was forced to resign as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, convicted of mishandling binders of classified information, and fined $100,000 for allowing his biographer to read parts of the binders. General Petraeus found out that intent is not the legal threshold for prosecution, actions are.

Hillary Clinton chose to use a private server in violation of State Department protocol, emailed highly classified information on it, failed to properly secure it, and used it in a reckless manner. Our top law enforcement agency confirmed this, but then provided an escape hatch. Apparently, a famous candidate running for office, Hillary Clinton, doesn’t get at least the same punishment General Petraeus did. This warped conclusion confirms the fears of the American people, who feel there are one set of laws for them and another for Washington’s political elite.

Americans deserve better from their leaders. Speaker Ryan has announced that Congress will hold hearings to exercise our oversight of the executive branch. He also recommended that Secretary Clinton have her security clearance taken away.

U.S. Attorney General Lynch promised to follow Director Comey’s advice. Not surprisingly, she kept that promise - Hillary Clinton will be charged with NOTHING. The American people have every right to view the evidence Director Comey used to draw this conclusion and decide for themselves. We will use every tool available to get answers from the FBI and Justice Department for their failure to apply the rule of law fairly. Director Comey is coming to Capitol Hill this week and I’m asking him to release the evidence from his investigation and make it available for public review. There is an election this November and the key player in this investigation wants to be our president. Transparency is desperately required for someone seeking to stop terror attacks on Main Street, USA as the leader of the free world and our Commander-in-Chief.